Handspun Monday: The Update Editioin

Sorry, haven't been very talkative lately. But I do have an update!

My Earth and Sky spinning looks much the same as it did last week:


But I do have a new project. One that should've been finished by now, but apparently I can't count, so I've had to frog most of it twice. Anyway, I'm finally using my Ocean Mist yarn to make the Boteh Scarf from Interweave Crochet Spring 2007.

Ooooh.


Shineh.

Good Friday

Acrylic, watercolor, colored pencil, and rubber stamps on cardboard.

Happy St. Patty's

No handspun today. Was too busy yesterday composing my lecture on the St. John's Bible. More on that later.

There's a group now on Ravelry for Boondock Saints fans. Oh yes. I have found my kindred spirits yet again :) Saturday night was my friends' yearly viewing of the movie. Damn I missed that movie. It really is my favorite. I know that's strange because it's so violent, but it's just so well done, and in my book, violence against bad guys is okay. Aw, hell, I don't have to justify my taste in movies. After all, that's all it is -- a movie. Just watch this vid, it's St. Patty's day!





In a stunning twist of irony, I'm also posting to bring your attention to a worthy cause. I failed to post about the last small charity that came to my attention, so I'm posting about this one. I found out about it through Pam. You can find it here.

Science!

She blinded me! With science!

When I saw this yarn from Storm Moon Knits, I knew it had to be mine. Just based on the name alone.

And I knew it had to be armwarmers.

And so it is.

Blinding Armwarmers.


Scientific armwarmers. (Well, mathematical at least. Can you find the Fibonacci sequence? Look carefully, it's subtle...)


This yarn is definitely awesome. Twilight Sock in "She Blinded Me With Science" = Awesome. Which means that, yes, these armwarmers are in fact made of Awesome.


Hellz yeah.

There's Always Room for Another Obsession

Michelle Ward is evil. In a good way ;)

Sometime back in 8th grade art class, we did block prints with blocks of rubbery stuff that we carved with these spiffy little carving tools. I loved it, and have always wanted to try doing it again, but didn't know where to get or even look for the materials. Michelle and her latest crusade have shown me the light.




I looked for local suppliers that might have the carving blocks I needed, and sure enough, they were there all along, at my local store. Stupid me. Friday in a mad whirl I stopped there after work and bought a few blocks and a carving tool that's got all the blades and the spares can be stored in the handle (how cool is that?). That night I set to work, and now I have my first two handmade stamps!

First stamp:




And on the back of the block, the negative image, carved on Saturday morning:


And really, are you surprised at what they are? Seriously.

I have so many images that I want to turn into stamps! I'll definitely be working on more soon. A little strapped for time at the moment, as I've got to put together a lecture on the St. John's Bible for my old high school, but as soon as that's done, I'm back to the carving! And I haven't even thought about stencils yet... In the meantime, click the button at the top of the post and check out the stuff other people are cutting. They're awesome!

Earthy

That's how I feel with my current handspun vibe. Observe:

Remember that singles I spun from that gorgeous batt I got from Gryphon? Well, I plied it. With beads.




It was a little bit of a pain to ply with the beads in, but that's really cos I did it stupidly. Next time I ply something with beads, I'm going to spin it onto two separate bobbins rather than trying to string beads onto and then ply from a center-pull ball. Cos that was dumb.




Next up, I'm spinning from a gift. My friend Geri won some roving in a drawing after she donated to Lupus research. She doesn't spin, so she gave it to me, because she's incredibly sweet. This stuff is gorgeous. 100% merino, and the colorway is called "Earth & Sky."


I must check out what else Poppy Flower Fibers has to offer.


Because the color is so springy and natural, and because I am longing for spring and wanting to be outside without freezing to the bone, I started spinning this yesterday. Got about this far:

It definitely needs to be split and split and pre-drafted, but once I prep it, it's spinning beautifully. I'm trying to make the yarn more even this time, with varying degrees of success. My excuse is going to be that I was rather sleepy when I sat down to spin last night. Yes, sleepy. I did not, however, fall asleep at the wheel. *rimshot*

Soon, ever so soon, I will post my latest project/obsession. Michelle Ward is such a good bad influence! I rushed to work on this new thing right away on Friday, got two done, and haven't had the chance to play with it since. This week, though. Definitely.

Also, perhaps I should show off some of my recent Etsy finds. I've found so many sellers that deserve the love, and there are only gazillions more! Though I'm a little miffed at my mail service at the moment. Did you see Pam's shirt? I ordered one a day earlier and it hasn't come in. I'm very grumpy that I don't have my shirt. Stupid mail. Oh well, it's worth the wait ;)

PSA: Penelope

Okay, so apparently "tomorrow" means "in 6 days" now. Just thought you should know.

Anyway, I have a movie you ALL need to see. Penelope.



Saw it today (er, yesterday?) with Murph and aside from the obvious (ummm could we love James McAvoy any more than we currently do? I submit that we cannot!), we both lurrrrved it. I would see it again. And again. And again. And the dvd will be mine.

Oh, you wanted to know why? Oh. Well, then. Top 10 reasons to see Penelope:
10. James McAvoy.
9. The soundtrack is pretty good.
8. It's hilarious. Trust me, I can't even explain all the ways in which it is funny.
7. James McAvoy. I mean it.
6. It's not overly cerebral, but it's still a smart movie.
5. Christina Ricci.
4. Excellent performances by the whole cast (yes, not just the stars, though they are fantastic).
3. The costumes. I swear everything she wore must have come from Anthropologie.
2. The balance of whimsy and realism that the filmmakers maintained.
1. Everyone needs a good fairy tale now and then.

Trust me on this one. It's worth your while.

Happy Dance... of Shame

Guess what??? MAH COMPUTER'S FIXED!!!

After a valiant effort by Pam's wonderful husband Kris (give that man some pie, Pam!), it still refused to hold onto a connection to the internet. I thought there must be somethin in my tubez blockin my internets. Turns out my tubez were not running with the latest drivers. The Lexi found this. He updated my wireless driver and voila! Like magic! I are dumb. And Lexi is my hero. I knew I love him for a reason.

Now surfing the net is far more pleasant at home! And with this newfound lack of frustration, I bring you Handspun Monday. How's your memory for fibers? Remember the batt I got from Gryphon? The one in, ya know, the last post before this one? It's now this:

NOM. It's been on the bobbin for a week now. I'm going to be plying it with some beads in. Stay tuned for updates :)

Another thing I've been meaning to get to. It's too late for the actual crusade deadline cos I'm lame, but I actually did participate in Michelle Ward's GPP Street Team Crusade #17! The mission was to put together a travelling art journal kit. A grab-and-go toolbox of all the essentials. So I did, a good week and a half before the deadline. Did I post about it? Noooooo. Why? Well, remember the part where I'm lame? Yeah. Combination of not spending enough productive time on the internet and me forgetting. Anyway, I used a makeup organizer. Ta-daa!





There are sketchbook pages, a pencil, extra lead, a sharpie, watercolors and brushes, a good eraser, a deck of cards cos I like to use those, a rub-on transfer book that I loooove, scissors, glue, and tape. Now there are also journal tags that I got from The Paper Pixie, which I just got this weekend. I'm super excited. I really plan on doing more of this journaling thing.

I have more to show off, but that will wait. I can't cram everything into one blog post, now can I? I wouldn't have anything else to post about, would I? Oh, I would? Well nevermind. I'm still saving some for tomorrow.